Two pieces of survey-related mail arrived today. One was a $60 check from an online focus group that I had participated in about two weeks ago, and the other is a regular mail-in questionnaire about health issues.

The check from the bulletin board focus group survey arrived relatively quickly. Sometimes postal mail check payments for these kinds of things will take around 4-6 weeks, as many of the companies state in their disclaimers or FAQ sections. Other companies have a much faster turnaround time. The My Points reward program has been especially fast, sending out gift cards almost immediately after I redeem the points for them online, resulting in a total wait time of only 3-4 days before they arrive in the mail.

The other mailing that I received was not really a payment but a regular pencil-and-paper type of questionnaire that is supposed to be sent back to the company. It is usually worth doing these postal mail surveys because there is always some type of incentive involved. Some of them will credit additional points (the kind that can be redeemed for cash) to your online account after they receive your reply, while others will give you things like free magazine subscriptions or gift cards. I have even had a few of them send actual cash in the envelopes before; the amounts have been pretty small ($1-$10), but at least there are no worries about getting paid!

Meanwhile, I still need to go back to my list at Survey Vanguard and check out some of the other survey companies there. I still have over 200 to go through and evaluate; if I register with more of them, I should be able to increase the number and frequency of those nice little checks.